Jax Journey 2.0 to look at jobs for at-risk kids: “our teenagers haven’t had enough focus”

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She was appointed in the fall of 2008 to lead former Mayor John Peyton‘s ambitious attempt to dethrone Jacksonville as Florida’s murder capital.

She left the job during the tenure of former Mayor Alvin Brown, when the Jacksonville Journey changed focus, and lost funding (the recession also played a role in that, it’s been pointed out.)

But under new Mayor Lenny Curry, Journey Project Director Debbie Verges is back in her old post, as the reinvigorated initiative looks at the best way to apportion public funds around what’s known as the “PIE” of crime reduction (prevention, intervention, and enforcement).

“It’s really exciting to be back. The mayor believes that the way we solve Jacksonville’s problems is through our children. And the way we do that is we reach them early, and make sure they stay on the right track,” Verges told WJCT.  

Curry has allocated about $3 million dollars in the current city budget to bolster Journey programs, while also adding money to pay for 40 additional police officers.

“We’ll have $1.7 million for new initiatives. It’s never enough, but given the economic climate, that’s new dollars. Most agencies are not seeing any increases. So we’re fortunate we’ll at least have that amount of money to try to make a difference.”

The Journey’s initial focus in 2008 looked at early intervention and after-school programs for kids. Verges says this time around, teenagers will get more attention. And the approach taken in the last decade may be tweaked for 2016.

“This time we want to look at what’s different? Jacksonville is different than it was in 2008. We really want to hear from the providers. How would they address reaching out to teenagers in their neighborhoods? It won’t be quite as prescribed. We want to hear from the community.”

One point of feedback that’s already registered loud and clear, says Verges, is jobs. Or rather, the lack of them, particularly for young people in the city’s disadvantaged North and Northwest quadrants.

“Teenagers and young adults aged 18-24 need jobs. So we’ll probably see more in that area of economic development.”

The Journey Oversight Committee meets Thursday. Once it issues its recommendations, they’ll be forwarded to the City Council so that funds can be brought out of reserves and implemented, says Verges.

 

 

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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